Guitar tablature guide
We get many questions from beginner guitarists about how to read and write guitar tablature. It's an incredibly useful tool in learning guitar techniques and in particular learning your favourite songs. Almost every popular album in recent history has been transcribed and looking back to when we were learning guitar they proved vital in improving both rythm and lead guitar techniques.
This tablature guide will include many advanced symbols and meanings which you'll need to understand to get the most out of guitar tablature. Missing these will inevitably result in you getting stuck!
Now firstly its important to understand that guitar tablature or (tab as its often referred to) is not proper music notation. What it provides is an easy way to learn your favourite songs.
Tablature is basically a way of indicating the positioning of notes and fingering on the guitar fretboard. There are 6 tab lines representing 6 strings on the guitar. (The 1st string is the thinnest, and the 6th string is the thickest). The tab below shows how the strings are indicated in standard tablature notation:
| E----------------------------- String 1 (thinnest string) B----------------------------- String 2 G----------------------------- String 3 D----------------------------- String 4 A----------------------------- String 5 E----------------------------- String 6 (Thickest string) |
When a number is placed on one of the lines, it indicates the fret location of the note. For example the tab below indicates you would play the 5th fret on the b string,
| E----------------------------- String 1 B------5---------------------- String 2 G----------------------------- String 3 D----------------------------- String 4 A----------------------------- String 5 E----------------------------- String 6 |
This tab below indicates an open 5th string (or an open A)
| E----------------------------- String 1 B----------------------------- String 2 G----------------------------- String 3 D----------------------------- String 4 A------0---------------------- String 5 E----------------------------- String 6 |
This next tab is a bit more complex and indicates the following:
1st Fret, 1st string then
7th Fret, 3rd string, then
8th Fret, 2nd string, then
2nd Fret, 4th string, then
12th Fret, 6th string.
| E---1------------------------- String 1 B-----------8----------------- String 2 G-------7--------------------- String 3 D---------------2------------- String 4 A----------------------------- String 5 E------------------------12--- String 6 |
Other letters / symbols used in tabs.
h - hammer on
p - pull off
b - bend string up
r - release bend
/ - slide up
\ - slide down
v - vibrato (sometimes written as ~)
t - right hand tap
x - play 'note' with heavy damping
When you see all numbers in a line one after another
It means you play the entire chord using all strings
| E---3------------------------- String 1 B---3------------------------- String 2 G---4------------------------- String 3 D---5------------------------- String 4 A---5------------------------- String 5 E---3------------------------- String 6 |
When you see tabs that have "h"
It means to do a "Hammer On" from the 7th fret to the 9th fret and again for the 10th fret to the 12th fret
| E--------------------------------String 1 B--------------------------------String 2 G--------------------------------String 3 D--------------------------------String 4 A---------7h9-----------10h12----String 5 E---0--0----------0--0-----------String 6 |
When you see other tabs that have "p"
It means to do a "Pull Off" from the 9th fret to the 7th fret and again for the 12th fret to the 10th fret
| E--------------------------------String 1 B--------------------------------String 2 G--------------------------------String 3 D--------------------------------String 4 A---------9p7-----------12p10----String 5 E---0--0----------0--0-----------String 6 |
When you see other tabs that have "b"
...it means strike the string 5 on the 7th fret, then bend the note up so that it sounds the same as the note played on the 9th fret.
| E--------------------------------String 1 B--------------------------------String 2 G--------------------------------String 3 D--------------------------------String 4 A---------7b9-----------10b12----String 5 E--------------------------------String 6 |
Here's a handy tablature legend to keep on file...
| Guitar Tablature Legend |
|---|
h - hammer-on p - pull-off b - bend pb - pre-bend r - bend release (release immediately if no number after r) /\ - slide into or out of (from/to "nowhere") s - legato slide S - shift slide <n> - natural harmonic [n] - artificial harmonic n(n) - tapped harmonic ~ - vibrato tr - trill T - tap TP - trem. picking PM - palm muting \n/ - tremolo bar dip; n = amount to dip \n - tremolo bar down n/ - tremolo bar up /n\ - tremolo bar inverted dip = - hold bend; also acts as connecting device for hammers/pulls <> - volume swell (louder/softer) x - on rhythm slash represents muted slash o - on rhythm slash represents single note slash |
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